The University of Kentucky football team snapped a 26-game losing streaking to Tennessee by beating the Volunteers 10-7

A n alumnus, former University of Kentucky player, and assistant coach under coaches Jerry Claiborne and Fran Curci, Greg Nord returned to UK in 2010 as special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.

Nord's challenge on special teams for the upcoming season will be to replace all of the starting kick returners, along with the snapper, holder and All-SEC punter Ryan Tydlacka.

Nord has significant experience returning at tight end with juniors Tyler Robinson, Ronnie Shields and Jordan Aumiller. Last season, the tight ends combined to catch 30 passes, including two touchdowns. Aumiller was a Freshman All-American during his first season on the field.

Nord's career path has returned to Lexington following stops at East Carolina, Georgia Tech, Louisville and Illinois. Nord had joined Illinois in the spring of 2010 as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator after spending the previous 15 seasons at U of L.

Nord was at Louisville from 1995-2009, serving at various times as assistant head coach, recruiting coordinator, tight ends coach and running backs coach. He helped the Cardinals advance to nine bowl games, including a championship of the 2007 Orange Bowl, and win three Conference USA championships and one Big East title.

Nord's tight ends at Louisville had remarkable accomplishments. Ibn Green earned All-America honors in 1998 and `99 while setting the NCAA Division I career record for most pass receptions by a tight end (217). Ronnie Ghent became the first player in C-USA history to earn first-team all-conference honors for four-straight seasons. Ghent and three other Cardinal tight ends, Richard Owens, Gary Barnidge and Breno Giacomini, went on to play in the National Football League.

With Nord serving as running backs coach in 2004, the Cardinals set school records with 3,005 rushing yards and 47 rushing touchdowns. Eric Shelton tied the school record that year with 20 rushing TDs and went on to play for the Carolina Panthers. In 2005, Michael Bush led the nation in scoring, was a first-team All-Big East performer and now plays for the NFL's Chicago Bears. Two more of Nord's backs also played in the NFL, Kolby Smith with Kansas City and Brock Bolen of Jacksonville.

In 1997, Nord was coaching the running backs when Frank Moreau set an NCAA record by scoring four touchdowns in one quarter vs. East Carolina. Moreau went on to play in the NFL as well.

Prior to Louisville, Nord spent three years (1992-94) as the running backs coach at Georgia Tech. He guided Dorsey Levens and William Bell, each of whom earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors and played professionally. Levens enjoyed an 11-year NFL career and earned All-Pro honors. Nord also coached the running backs at East Carolina in 1990-91, highlighted by a victory in the Peach Bowl following the `91 campaign.

A native of Louisville, Nord played center, tight end and long snapper for the Wildcats from 1974-78 under Fran Curci. He was a three-year letterman and a member of the `76 Southeastern Conference championship team and the `77 squad that posted a 10-1 record. He entered the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at UK in 1979-80. He was a part-time assistant in 1981, the same season that Joker Phillips arrived as a player at UK.

Nord was promoted to full-time assistant in 1982 when Jerry Claiborne took over as head coach. Nord coached the running backs all eight years that Claiborne led the Cats, including a pair of appearances in the Hall of Fame Bowl. By the time Nord departed following the 1989 season, he had coached four of the top seven rushers in school history, Mark Higgs, George Adams, Marc Logan and Ivy Joe Hunter. All four went on to play in the NFL.

Nord and his wife, Donna, have two daughters, Amy and Angie, and five grandchildren, Luke, Nolan, Gregory, Elizabeth and Collin.